Approaches to ethical decision making in the neonatal intensive care unit
J. W. Walters
Christian Ethics Department, Loma Linda, Calif., University, School of Religion.
Despite the "Baby Doe" regulations, there is no consensus on principles for
deciding the fate of severely handicapped neonates. This essay analyzes
four alternate positions--value of life, parental authority, best
interests, and personhood--and suggests for consideration a fifth, ie,
proximate personhood. The latter position, building on the strengths of the
first four, argues that a handicapped newborn must possess a reasonable
potential for minimal personal capacities to have a unique claim to life.
Projected minimal capacities include personal self-awareness and net
physiological benefit. If newborns are not expected to develop such
capacities, parents should be free to choose the option of nontreatment.
